Prospects Podcast: We Have Baseball! Let’s Talk!

February 24, 2019 | Prospect Podcast, Razzball Podcast | 4 Comments

A busy week of baseball with the Padres signing Manny Machado, College Baseball in full swing, and spring training games kicking off this weekend. There’s lots to talk about. In hopes of getting you up to speed on all the happenings, injuries, and story lines of the first week of baseball, we run through 9 days worth of action in 60 minutes. We’re just that fast! (That’s what she unfortunately said) As Lance is fresh off his West Coast road trip, and I’ve been sitting in my basement watching Grand Canyon University play, rambling about nothing. Regardless, lots of baseball to talk, and that’s what we’re giving you. More baseball! It’s the latest episode of the Razzball Prospect Podcast!

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See all of today’s starting lineups

#	MLB Starting Lineups For Sat 8/2
	ARI \| ATH \| ATL \| BAL \| BOS \| CHC \| CHW \| CIN \| CLE \| COL \| DET \| HOU \| KC \| LAA \| LAD \| MIA \| MIL \| MIN \| NYM \| NYY \| PHI \| PIT \| SD \| SEA \| SF \| STL \| TB \| TEX \| TOR \| WSH \| OAK

Traded Prospects And The Trading Traders That Traded Them

by: Mike

It’s probably safe to say that there won’t be many more offseason trades going down. It’s also safe to say that I’ve destroyed the SEO filter with that title. About this time, I need to go back and write up the prospects that got traded to teams that have already had their minor league previews published. This way, no prospect falls through the cracks into the abyss of nothingness, also known as the pit of noblurbaboutmeness. There usually aren’t a ton of these guys, and I try to limit it to the ones that aren’t totally obscure. That said, I’m sure I’ll miss a couple, so hit me up in the comments for a quick take on anybody I don’t mention below. This year it’s all about the Mariners, who’ve added four top ten prospects since their preview was released.

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Draft Impact: Francisco Lindor’s Young Bovine

February 23, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 2 Comments

by: Matt Striker

I wanted to apply some math to Francisco Lindor’s injury and discuss some options as you head into your drafts… With a strained calf, Lindor is projected to miss 7-9 weeks, retroactive to on or about February 8th. This means that the Indian’s shortstop will miss valuable Spring Training time and Opening Day. (He is projected to be back on the field at the earliest, mid-April.)

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One Man’s Trash: Don’t Get Chagrined By Drafting Edwin

February 23, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 7 Comments

by: Son

Edwin Diaz is an amazing pitcher. His fastball averages 98 mph, while his changeup is faster (94 mph) than the fastball of most MLB pitchers. The swinging strike rate was an absurd 18.9% last season while the K/9 was 15.22! He saved 57 games for the Seattle Mariners last season. Yet, he’s getting waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overdrafted this year. The current NFBC ADP is the 48th overall player!! That’s insanity. Since you read Razzball, you all know about SAGNOF, but just in case ED was giving you some tingly Viagra sensations, let me stop the flow of blood and get some more oxygen into the brain. First of all, the 2018 season for ED was one of epic historic proportions. Only one other pitcher in the history of MLB, Francisco Rodriguez in 2008, posted a season with more saves when he notched 62. There have only been 17 instances in which a reliever notched at least 50 saves in one season. Only Mariano Rivera and Eric Gagne were able to be on the list twice. So, the chances of ED replicating last season are very slim. If that didn’t convince you, how about the fact that he got traded from Seattle to the New York Mets. Last season, Seattle produced the most save opportunites in the league with 81. The Mets were 21st with only 59 save opportunities. In 2017, Seattle produced 65 SVO, while the Mets produced 54. Unless you think the Mets will be over .500 this season, fewer than 60 save chances seem to be in the works. That’s a far cry from the 81 ED had last year. Rudy has ED down for 65 innings and 35 saves. Rudy also has Blake Treinen, Kenley Jansen, Craig Kimbrel, and Aroldis Chapman all down for 35 saves. ADP for those guys are 61, 74, 68, and 77 respectively. Raisel Iglesias, who is projected for 30 saves, has an ADP of 102. TRASH

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Points Leagues: Armpit Farts

February 22, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Points Leagues | 89 Comments

by: malamoney

Raise your hand if you have ever made a fart noise with your armpit. Now raise your other hand if you’ve ever laughed at someone else making fart noises with their armpit(s). Notice I made the word armpit potentially plural since there are many that can do this with both armpits. Not at the same time of course. These people are referred to as being “armpitfartidextrous”. If you currently do not have any hands raised, please close your browser because you are either not being honest or are not going to enjoy my flavor of humor. If you have never heard of an armpit fart, then technically you should have closed your browser and should not be reading this, but if you’ve ignored my instructions and are still here, then watch this dude.

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2019 Bounce Backs: Oh Danny Boy

February 22, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball | 17 Comments

by: The Real Joey Bart

Welcome fantasy baseball aficionados to my first Razzball article. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be going over things like streaming strategies and how to win a Yahoo Pro League but we’re going to start by introducing some bounce-back candidates. Finding bounce-backs is one of the keys to being successful in fantasy baseball, as that can make an average team an elite one. That’s one of the major reasons why I drafted Trevor Story last season. Looking at his peripheral statistics from a disappointing 2016-17 season and factoring that in with his ballpark and price made him one of the best values (RD 8-9) in drafts last year. He’s all the way up to the second round this season and finding a guy who can have that sort of jump is critical in building your team. The main goal here is to draft someone who will outplay their price tag and these candidates are all in fantastic situations to do just that.

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Vladimir Guerrero Jr., 2019 Fantasy Schmohawk

February 22, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Overrated | 234 Comments

by: Grey

[brid autoplay=”true” video=”374500″ player=”10951″ title=”2019 Razzball Draft Kit 3rd basemen”]

*places an order on Amazon for a megaphone, goes with the free shipping option, waits three to five days, sits outside the door for shipment, begins to rain, yells for Cougs to hand me an umbrella, shakes head annoyed when she hands me a drink umbrella, on the fifth day, the megaphone arrives, opens box, groans, heads out to CVS for some batteries for my new megaphone, buys batteries, unable to wait any longer, places batteries in megaphone while inside the CVS, grimaces at feedback, then cackles into megaphone for ten minutes straight until escorted out of the store* I am ordering megaphones to laugh into because it’s so hilarious I am writing an overrated post for Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Can we all agree that at least 30% of the people drafting Vlad “The Mini Impaler” are doing it because they have so much FOMO after Ronald Acuña Jr. last year? Maybe even 50% or more are drafting Impaler Jr. due to FOMO. Even ESPN and Yahoo are ranking Vlad for that FOMO factor. Yo, Yahoo and ESPN, you can’t make up for Mr. Bungling Acuña last year with your ranking for VGJ this year. You just can’t. By the way, I wanna see a show on MTV called The FOMO Factor hosted by Ludacris, and it’s the worst show ever but everyone on the show feared it was going to be the best show. Anyway, what can we expect from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for 2019 fantasy baseball and what makes him overrated?

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Bear or Bull: Ride or Die With Scooter?

February 21, 2019 | Fantasy Baseball Buy/Sell | 4 Comments

by: Son

I grew up playing 720 Degrees by Atari. If any of you are unfamiliar with the game, you skate around, collect money for doing tricks, and try to earn enough tickets to enter a skate park. The best part of the game was when the timer would run out when you weren’t in an event, and a swarm of bees would chase you down while a narrator would narrate, “SKATE OR DIE!!” in a menacing narrator voice. Fast forward to 2019, and skate or die has been replaced with ride or die with scooters. I have to admit. Riding the electric scooter is fun, and in a city like Los Angeles, it’s very useful. Side sociological observation: While they are prevalent in most places, drive to the hood and you won’t find too many. Hmmmm. Anyways, besides the “shit they leave behind,” as Grey so eloquently described them in his Top 20 2nd Basemen, the electric scooters have become very dangerous. There have been hundreds of injuries and even three fatalaties. Yikes. But this is a fantasy website, so I’m going to talk about a different scooter, as in Scooter Gennett. Do we ride or die with him in 2019?

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2019 Spring Training Position Battles: The NL West

February 21, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Team Previews | 4 Comments

by: Whack Daniels

I don’t pay much attention to Spring Training statistics. You never know who the statistics are coming against. Baseball-Reference did, however, have an amazing tool last year that attempted to quantify the quality of opposing pitchers or batters faced during spring training games on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being MLB talent and 1-3 being high A to low A level. This tool is great, but it averages all the Plate Appearances or batters faced. You would still need a deeper dive to see if your stud prospect smacked a donger off of Chris Sale or off of your kid’s future pony league baseball coach. So what should we watch for in March when we’re starved for the crack of the bat? Ignore “best shape of their life” stories and Spring Training statistical leaderboards. Pay attention to injuries and lineup construction and position battles!

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NFBC Signups! Plus, A Totally Unrelated K/9 vs. K% — Which One Should You Use For Fantasy Baseball?

February 21, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball Draft, Our Leagues, Y to Z | 188 Comments

by: Grey

Couple of sells before the words to ring the till’s bells. If you want an ad-free experience, click here. Join a Razzball League, they’re filling up, but they need youse, so stop being afraid of success! Finally, Rudy released his War Room, you need to subscribe to our tools to get it. Not to toot Rudy’s horn — ew! — but it is what we both use in all our drafts. I’m basically crediting it with our Tout Wars wins. It is leaps and bounds better than our online War Room. It is indispensable in NFBC leagues. You can get access to the War Room via the Easter Egg hidden in the middle of the Stream-o-Nator page. You have to subscribe, though. Speaking of NFBC, sign up to take on Rudy or I or Ralph or MattTruss. League’s start drafting March 4th. Wait, there’s a more detailed intro:

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The 18th Out, Part 3: Head to Head, Face to Face, Butt to Butt

February 20, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, 2019 Fantasy Baseball Draft | 3 Comments

by: John L

A howdy, a hey and a hi-yo Silver to all the hot-rod rowdy Razzball readers in deep anticipation of this; The third installment of my series on the oft spat upon Quality Start (Part 1 and Part 2). I’m so glad to be back at the grindstone so soon; Things around here are getting better every day. Recuperation from a neck surgery is progressing daily, and little John is sleeping a little longer every night. In fact, I’ve sat down to start this article three different times already; Each time ending up down a different rabbit hole of QS stats which set me on a productive, yet different path than intended. So for the delight of the crowd (and the detriment of the nerve endings in my fingers) the H2H part of our QS exploration will become a series within a series. Just as a note going forward; Always keep in mind that point league formats can vary greatly. I will be using the format from my own CBS Home League which is only slightly varied from the standard: +0.5 per out, +1.0 per K, -0.5 per runner, -1.0 per run, +7.0 per W, +5.0 per QS, -5.0 per L. We wanted to make sure that in the event of taking a Quality Start + Loss, (which we call ”eating the cock-meat sandwich”) that the QS negates the Loss. All leagues are different so make sure to adjust for your own format as we progress.

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2019 Minor League Preview: Milwaukee Brewers

February 20, 2019 | 2019 Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Baseball Prospects | 4 Comments

by: Mike

The Brewers system is pretty much Hiura and then everybody else. It’s kind of like how there is Blatz beer, and then everything else. Can I use my powers as an internet blogger – whose words reach tens of people – to say something slightly controversial? *whispers* I don’t get the craft beer thing. I mean, I understand micro-brewing and that, but when did we start talking about beer like it’s wine with “notes” and such? I guess I’m a reverse beer snob. I stick to the classics. Hamm’s, Carling Black Label, Genesee, and, if I’m feeling extra fancy, Miller High Life. If you’re a craft beer guy or gal…cheers to you. Just remember stubborn old farts like me are still out there when you’re stocking up for your next party. Rant over. Back to baseball…

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